"If I Had Known" - How Many Times Have We Said This To Someone?

As it's Sunday, something different, a video for you to listen to. It was created by my Google+ friend Ann Kennedy. The song / poem is sung by her friend Matthew Wilson. All of the photos in the video have been taken by Ann. I think it's lovely - so, if you have time, please have a listen.

I wonder how many times we have said to someone, "If I had known ..."

Conquer The Earth And Extinguish Independent Thought - That's Big Brother

This was George Orwell's house at 22 Portobello Road, London. The house (and the sign bearing his name) is genuine but the question is: Has the photo been photoshopped and the camera added? Could well be, but the photo gets a message across!

I then found the same photo on the Imgur website and when I saw the number of views it had - 976 - I saw it as an indicator that I should publish the photo.

I have written several times about how 976 is an important number in my life. See, for example my posts, The 976 Coincidence or The Missed Post Coincidence And Other Wanderings.

Quote from 1984: "His pen had slid voluptuously over the smooth paper, printing in large neat capitals - DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER over and over again, filling half a page."

Quote: "In North Korea, every person is property and is owned by a small and mad family with hereditary power. Every minute of every day, as far as regimentation can assure the fact, is spent in absolute subjection and serfdom. The private life has been entirely abolished. One tries to avoid cliché, and I did my best on a visit to this terrifying country in the year 2000, but George Orwell's 1984 was published at about the time that Kim Il-sung set up his system, and it really is as if he got hold of an early copy of the novel and used it as a blueprint."
~ Christopher Hitchens, in "Worse Than 1984 : North Korea, slave state

Strange where you end up after looking at a photo.

Quote from 1984: "The two aims of the Party are to conquer the whole surface of the earth and to extinguish once and for all the possibility of independent thought."

Empty Your Cup To Understand Zen

Empty Your Cup

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), 

received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea.

He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself.

"It is overfull. No more will go in!"

"Like this cup," Nan-in said, "You are full of your own opinions and speculations.

How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"

Other Zen Quotes:
20 Zen Sayings And Proverbs To Ponder
Top Ten Zen Buddhist Quotes Of Taisen Deshimaru
The Zen Of The Wild Strawberry

The Most Profound Emotion We Can Experience

"The most beautiful and most profound
emotion we can experience is the
sensation of the mystical. He to whom
this emotion is a stranger, who can no
longer wonder and stand wrapped in 
awe, is as good as dead."

~ Albert Einstein

Other Thought Of The Day Quotes:
The Fleeting Reality Of The Wayfarer
Perfect Peace
How To Be A Buddha

The Handed Down 30 Pearls Of Wisdom

Here are the top thirty pearls of wisdom handed down by grandparents - as discovered in a recent poll. There are a lot of truths amongst them.

1. Good manners don't cost anything

2. You can only do your best

3. Don't buy what you cannot afford

4. Treat others the way you would like to be treated

5. A smile can get you a long way

6. You don't get something for nothing

7. Practice makes perfect

8. Never accept a lift from a stranger

9. Work hard at school because qualifications are the one thing that can't be taken from you

10. Family first

11. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all

12. Don't ask, don't get

13. No such word as can't

14. Neither a lender or a borrower be

15. Don't swim after eating

16. I want never gets

17. Never go to bed on an argument

18. Never drink alcohol on an empty stomach

19. A happy marriage is the foundation to a happy family

20. Never go out with wet hair

21. Set your watch five minutes fast

22. Patience and perseverance are the key to success

23. Friendship is a gift, not a possession

24. Always take your coat off when you come in, or you'll get cold when you go out

25. Always get out of life what you put in

26. Less is more

27. People will forget how you look, but won't forget how you made them feel

28. Never let your petrol tank go lower than a quarter full

29. Always have six months' rent or mortgage saved

30. Life will have high peaks and low valleys, and neither is forever - enjoy the peaks, pull yourself out of the valleys and keep going

Poll undertaken by McCarthy & Stone

More Pearls of Wisdom Posts:
Life Is But A Dewdrop On The Lotus Leaf: 20 Quotes On Life
Top Ten Zen Buddhist Quotes Of Taisen Deshimaru
20 Zen Sayings And Proverbs To Ponder

How To Be A Buddha

Being a buddha means remaining serene 

in every circumstance 

and loving people

That's all

~ Giulio Cesare Ciacobbe

Other Buddha Posts:
21 Questions Of Life Answered By The Buddha
Top Ten Zen Buddhist Quotes Of Taisen Deshimaru
The Mantelpiece Buddha

The Miracle Of A Flower Could Change Our Whole Life

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.
-Buddha

Other Buddha Posts:
21 Questions Of Life Answered By The Buddha
Buddha's Pipal Leaves Lead To Egg Decapitation
Top Ten Zen Buddhist Quotes Of Taisen Deshimaru

Buddha Quote

All that we are is the result of what we have thought

~ Buddha

Posts with Quotes:
Top Ten Zen Buddhist Quotes Of Taisen Deshimaru
Life Is But A Dewdrop On The Lotus Leaf: 20 Quotes On Life
The Quotes Of John Lennon

Which Religion Cares Most About the Homeless

An interesting question posed: Which religion cares most about the homeless? It's also quite a clever 'sales' pitch!

I wonder, though, what each of us does when someone asks for money or help ...

Everything In The Past Or Future Is Unreal

"Everything past is unreal, everything future is unreal, everything imagined, absent, mental ... is unreal ... ultimately real is only the present moment of physical efficiency."

~ Fyodor Shcherbatskoy

Other Thoughts & Quotes:
Life Is But A Dewdrop On The Lotus Leaf: 20 Quotes On Life
Top Ten Zen Buddhist Quotes Of Taisen Deshimaru
The Quotes Of John Lennon

Do We Have Time To Stand And Stare

Leisure

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars,

like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this is if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

~ William H Davies

The photos I snapped the last time I was in Crete. The top two are in a mountain village off the tourist trail and the other is of the cemetery overlooking the sea.

Perfect Peace

As a Sunday Thought the following is from my cuttings file from around 30 years ago.

The writer, Dr K.M.P Mohamed Cassim, is the founder of the Perfect Peace Lodge in Sri Lanka and by 'coincidence' I came across an interview with her on the School of Metaphysics website.

"The mystical teachings of Jesus are fundamentally and essentially similar to the teachings of other great masters, saints and mystics.

The correct method of meditation is beautifully stated in the Bible as Be still and know that I am God, which means one should keep the mind undisturbed emotionally under all circumstances and maintain the profound state of Perfect Peace with full awareness of the Absolute Reality which alone exists eternally.

The process of divine healing is purely a spontaneous act which takes place quietly and sweetly when we are in deep silent meditation in tune with that Cosmic Consciousness of Divinity. The healing aspect of prayer can be conceived not by mere intellectual ability but through the communion with the Supreme Power which operates full of spiritual magnetism."

~ Dr K.M.P Mohamed Cassim

The photo is of a lake in the Alps near Neustift in Austria

Other Thoughts And Quotes:
Life Is But A Dewdrop On The Lotus Leaf: 20 Quotes On Life
A Seagull Shows Us The Way To FlyA Seagull Shows Us The Way To Fly
Words Of Immortality And The Big Bang

One Billion People Do Not Have Access To Water

A few random Sunday thoughts.

We take so much for granted at times. Take water for instance. I've just come across the statistic that over one billion people in the world do not have access to even a basic water supply. Just imagine that, no fresh water from the taps for drinking, cooking or bathing.

In 2010 the United Nations passed a resolution which basically said that clean drinking water is a fundamental right for everyone, But, guess what, not all countries agreed. Both the USA and the UK abstained on the grounds of what this would cost.

Privately owned water companies also disagreed. When someone put it too them that they were profiteering as water 'was a gift from God' one of the company presidents answered glibly, "Yes, but He forgot to lay the pipes."

We spend billions on wars and weapons and yet millions in the world don't have clean, drinkable water. We seem to have some skewed ideas of what is important.

Makes me wonder if water will become the new oil, where profiteering and power flourishes - let's hope not.

Secrets And Wisdom From A Tibetan Monastery

The 1939 manuscript I saw on which my post The Lamas Way To Health, Rejuvenation And Virility was based also included the following which I thought may be of interest. It's regarding information obtained from a visit to a Tibetan monastery.

"The Lamas, millenniums ago, discovered that all good things come from within. They discovered that every worthwhile thing has its origin within the individual. This is something that the Occidental has never been able to understand, and comprehend. He thinks, as I did, that all worthwhile things must come from the outside world.

The Lamas, especially those at this particular Lamasery, are performing great work for the world. It is performed, however, on the astral plane.

This plane, from which they assist mankind in all quarters of the globe, is high enough above the vibrations of the world to be a powerful focal point where much can be accomplished with little loss of effort.

Some day the world will awaken in amazement to what the unseen forces - The Forces of Good - have been doing for the masses. We who take ourselves in hand and make new creatures of ourselves in every imaginable way, each is doing a marvellous work for mankind everywhere.

Already the efforts of these advanced individuals are being welded together into One Irresistible Power. It is only through individuals like the Lamas, and you and me, that the world can possibly be helped.

Most of mankind, and that includes those in most enlightened countries, like America, England and Canada, is still in the darkest of the Dark Ages. However, they are being prepared for better and more glorious things, and as fast as they can be initiated into the higher life, just that fast will the world be made a better place in which to live."

Further Reading:
The Secret Teachings Of Karma And Sickness
The Magic Behind The Secret Lodges
How To Bring The Dead Back To LIfe

Anna Laetitia Barbauld And Life

Anna Laetitia Barbauld

Life! we've been long together Through pleasant and through cloudy weather; Tis hard to part when friends are dear, Perhaps 'twill cost a sigh, a tear. Then steal away, give little warning. Choose thine own time, Say not "Good-night," but in some brighter clime, Bid me "Good-morning."
Anna Laetitia Barbauld (20 June 1743 – 9 March 1825)

Why The 26th Of December Is Known As Boxing Day

Today, the 26th of December, is known as Boxing Day in Britain and in several other countries as well.  It is what we call a Bank Holiday (a normal working day when the banks are closed) but no doubt would be called a Public Holiday in other parts of the world.

How Boxing Day came about is not absolutely clear. The most popular thought is that this was the day when servants and tradesmen would collect their Christmas Boxes - i.e.money tips for good service - from the gentry or their employers.  These money gifts or 'boxes' were mentioned in Samuel Pepys' diary entry for December 19th 1663, so the tradition goes way back.

In days of old churches would have a box in which to place contributions for the poor at their Christmas Day services. These boxes were then opened on the 26th for distribution to the needy.

Another explanation for Boxing Day dates back to when sailing ships set off to discover far away lands. They would take with them a sealed box full of money as a good luck talisman, to help keep them safe on their voyages. When they returned safely a church service of thanks would be held and the box was presented to the vicar or priest.

This box would be kept until Christmas when the contents would be shared with the poor.

I personally look at Boxing Day as being family time, though often sport is involved. In the UK there isusually  a full programme of sport including the top football (soccer) clubs. I remember going to matches at the London clubs: Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, with my father when I was young.

One of the traditional events (unfortunately) in England is the Boxing Day Fox Hunting. In 2005 hunting, however, with dogs become a criminal offence but the hunts still go ahead where the scent of a fox is followed.

I have to admit that this is quite a sight with the riders in their red jackets, the sound of horns blowing, the dogs and the horses in splendid condition. It's a actually one of my very first memories.

I believe I was three years old and at Christmas we were staying in a country location with friends of my parents. The Fox Hunt started from the cottage where we were staying was situated. I remember distinctly the horses and dogs, the colour and all of the excitement. Back then I didn't, of course, realise that the idea was to kill the foxes with the dogs tearing them to pieces - something truly horrific in my eyes today.

Today I'm with my family, what could be more perfect? I hope you are having a perfect day too.

Oh yes, and now Boxing Day is when the sales start in most of the shops. The January Sales come early. Commercialism has taken over. Once it was simply family, sports and thinking about those less fortunate than ourselves, but now it's greedily shopping for supposed bargains. What skewed priorities we have.

Coincidence Becomes Inevitable

Coincidence, if traced far enough back, becomes inevitable

Love Dissolves Any Barriers

"Love is like the warm sun that shines on the ice; it melts and dissolves any barriers, any areas of pain. Like the ice, your fears turn to water and evaporate."
~ Orin

Your Can Never Find A Guerrab Water Seller When You Need One

I've been going through loads of our old holiday and travel photos. The one above is of Karin and my son when he was eight.

It's not a particularly good picture but it stirred up some memories for me and also made me think about how it's so easy to take water for granted.

The photo was taken in Marrakech, Morocco and the gentlemen surrounding Karin and my son are traditional guerrab water sellers, some call them water carriers. It's more of a tourist attraction nowadays as bottled water can easily be bought in several Marrakech shops.

We had travelled from the Morocco coast to Marrakech on a bus, which wasn't too bad, but on our return journey the bus broke down in the Atlas mountains. The driver simply got out of the bus and walked away into the pitch black night leaving us stranded.

That's the thing about travel, it makes life interesting!

I remember thinking how we could do with a guerrab water seller ringing his bell to make his presence known - but you just can't find a guerrab when you need one! Especially in the mountains.

Luckily we had a supply of our own water. But isn't it great to be able to turn on a tap in our houses and find clean running water. Sometimes we take a lot for granted, well I do.

Other Travel Posts:
Mysterious Symbolism In Mijas Spain
Why Jesus Visited Cornwall In England
The Holy Well Of St Sampson At Golant In Cornwall

I was 'conned' with yesterday's post - it doesn't check out properly which I didn't notice at the time. Apologies to readers! I'll leave the post up for a couple of days and will then delete it - Mike.

A Donkey's Heavy Load Leads To Rambling Thoughts

Readers will probably view the photo above differently. At one end of the scale will be laughter and at the other, sadness that animals are sometimes used to carry loads way beyond their strengths or capabilities.

I remember reading in an occult book many years ago about how we as individuals should never take on the loads belonging to others or should sacrifice ourselves in favour of someone else. Who, they argued, can say whose life is the most valued?

This by no means that we shouldn't help others, in fact this is probably our duty to offer assistance - but only if the load in manageable.

This follows even into the realms of business. When I first went into management my boss told me I was doing too much myself. He said he didn't care if he came in and I had my feet up on the desk (as if!) as long as the figures were good and all of the work was completed. He then told me a story:

Bob lived opposite Alan, their houses faced each other. One day Bob lent Alan £1000 on the understanding that it would be repaid on the following Saturday morning.

Alan knew he was unable to repay the debt so on the Friday night he couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned and was worried sick about what Bob would say and how he could ever repay him. He got into a terrible mental state until ...

He went to his bedroom window and called across the road to Bob.

Bob opened his window and Alan shouted across to him that he wouldn't be able to pay the £1000 in the morning as promised. He then went back to bed and slept soundly.

It was now Bob who couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned wondering how he could ever get his money back from Alan.

The load had been switched from Alan to Bob.

Sometimes it's necessary to put a little of the onus on others, as we should all play an equal part in the game of life.

Just a few rambling thoughts, apologies for the self indulgence!

Other Random Posts:
It Pays To Be Odd If You Own A House
The Odd Comparisons Between 1912 And 2012
UFO Seen By Sports Journalist Plus 8 Other UFO Sightings